EPHRAIM — Ephraim Mayor Cliff Birrell broke a 2-2 vote at a city council meeting last week, sending the Manti-Ephraim Airport Board’s zoning recommendation for land around the airport to the Sanpete County Planning and Zoning Commission for review.

At the Aug. 5 meeting, councilmen Kim Cragun and David Warren voted yes for the measure; councilmen Terry Lund and David Parrish voted no. Councilwoman Elaine Reid, a known opponent of the measure, was not present at the meeting.

“There has been a lot of turmoil among a few people in the valley, particularly those who have land around it,” said Ted Meikle, chair of the Airport Board. But “these concerns don’t exist. If they did I would be worried about them, but they do not.”

“With the exception of Paul Frishknecht, the zoning will cause no impingement on land owners,” Meikle said.

But Richard V. Nielson, a landowner near the airport, disagreed.

“I am opposed to [the proposed zoning] because it will affect the roads,” he said. “If we expand the airport …, it will take a large chunk out of someone’s land to move [Keller] road.”

Meikle stated that moving the road would result in minimal impact on the Windy Meadow Cattle Company property as well as on propety of other landowners on the southwestern edge of the airport.

“We are not talking about taking away any country road access,” he said. “We are just looking at adding a jog left and a jog right — maybe an additional quarter mile of distance.”

Paul Frishknecht, a local attorney and farmer, owns the parcel of land earmarked for future southern expansion of the airport runway. The parcel would be acquisitioned either through eminent domain or a selling agreement should the airport be expanded in the future.

In addition, a parcel of Don Robbins’ land falls into an area at the southern end of the proposed airport expansion identified as a runway protection zone. Because of the extent of building limitations in that parcel, the land would be placed into an easement at the time of expansion.

The city wouldn’t have any use for that land unless there was an expansion of the airport, Richard Anderson, Ephraim City manager, told the Messenger.

But Mayor Birrell said in last week’s city council meeting that Frishknecht had already indicated an interest in selling his land.

Frishknecht, however, denies saying that.

“Hell no,” he said. “I think it’s really disgusting what they are doing. If they want to have a fight, I’m ready. I don’t have to hire an attorney.”

If the zoning is approved, Frishknecht’s and Robbins’ properties would be restricted from the building of any structures for the next 20 to 30 years.

About 10 or 15 years ago, much of the land around the airport was assigned public facilities zoning. The airport board’s recommendation to the county is that the zoning around the airport be changed to agricultural or commercial to mirror present-day uses for landowners.

That zoning would accompany the airport’s proposed overlay zone, a rectangular overlay — 1,000 feet from each side of the runway’s centerline and 2,000 feet from each end of the potential runway — in which development of land would be restricted.

Agricultural and commercial zoning best accommodate the compatible land-use zone, which would limit residences to one per five acres and would also limit how many and how often people could congregate in the area. The zone would also have height restrictions for trees and structures.

Chairman Meikle explained that the board’s zoning recommendation asked the county to allow landowners to build homes on existing roads, rather than on interior roads that would need to be built.

But it also recommended that zoning never be changed to residential, which would be required to build a subdivision there, Mayor Birrell told the Messenger.

“If Paul Frishknecht wants to use it for agriculture, no problem,” he said. “But if he wants to build high rise apartments –”

Councilman Parrish protested the recommendations. “I am a citizen of this country and a property owner,” he said. “We are restricting people’s property rights.”

That’s a concern that landowners have had for a long time. Paul Frishknecht told the Messenger in a Feb. 25 article that he is not happy that the zoning would be applied now for expansion that may or may not happen 20 or 30 years down the road.

“If it gets rezoned now, then the property owners’ hands are tied,” he said.

He elaborated on that following last week’s council decision.

“I’ve been around for a long time,” he said. “Whatever they do with that airport is going to be dictated by financing. If it’s something that needs to be done, they should wait until they can buy the property before they make a decision.”